


Quite a Pair

by PlumSorcerer



Series: Dragon/Adventurer Drabble collection [1]
Category: Dragalia Lost (Video Game)
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Can be interpreted as platonic too, Dragon & Human Interactions, Dragons, F/M, Nidhogg is questioning his feelings, Slow Burn, Undead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-02-29 20:42:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18785845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlumSorcerer/pseuds/PlumSorcerer
Summary: Nidhogg always wonders why his human partner’s soul is empty. He unintentionally seek his answer sooner than he expected





	Quite a Pair

**Author's Note:**

> I thought we need some dragon love in dragalia ao3 so I’m here to provide 
> 
> Nidhogg/Nefaria. You can interpret this as either romantic or platonic it’s up to you

Being summoned means you were forcibly taken away from where you were originally, including dragons, Nidhogg, the ruler of death himself were not an exception. He was taken away from his original place in Rotten Spring, in a place where any flesh except for his would dissolve quickly. Due to his summoning contract, he was bound to serve a prince in a halidom. It’s not like he cares. It was getting boring in the Rotten Spring anyway.

 

He has no idea who in their right mind would summon an omen of disaster such as himself, but here he is, in flesh. Was the prince desperately need power? Or is it out of whim? Whatever the reason is, Nidhogg was needed, much to his surprise.

 

Whenever a dragon is summoned on the castle, the prince asked them for pact, which most dragons agreed to, some who don’t are returned back to where they are. Nidhogg simply agreed to the pact and he was assigned to some human, much to almost everyone at the halidom’s horror. They thought the prince went mad, again, some thought he was desperate to fight the Empire, and many other speculations. But the prince sees good in Nidhogg somehow, and wanted to redeem him by having him join his kingdom in New Alberia, which Nidhogg cares little about, as long as the prince knows the consequence and won’t complain about it later.

 

As soon the death dragon agreed to the pact, the prince will take him to the human who will be bound to him. Most adventurers refuses him for a good reason, however, there’s one interesting adventurer who’s willing to accept and Nidhogg is surprised by this fact, it is Nefaria.

 

Her appearance is that of a royalty and whenever Nidhogg is bound to her by shapeshifting, he felt some kind of void of emptiness and loneliness, that could be Nefaria’s soul. The feeling is very much new to Nidhogg.

 

Despite Nidhogg’s curiosity, the two barely spoke to each other. The prince told them to bond for longer time shapeshifting, but Nidhogg is too prideful to ask anything of the queen. Nefaria herself is a woman of few words, she only brought him his favorite gifts and sometimes sit down besides him, leaning her body close to the dragon, for a reason Nidhogg doesn’t understand, but he lets her do it anyway, it’s not like she can do any harm to him. Even if she were, Nidhogg could just blow her into dust in a blink of an eye.

 

* * *

 

Until one day, Nidhogg is in stand by for shapeshifting when Nefaria is dispatched on a mission, he looked over her from a looking glass so that he’ll be ready whenever Nefaria is about to shapeshift into him. He noticed something strange as Nefaria takes hit from every fiends. She’s bleeding, but she didn’t even flinch, being ambushed by many fiends and receiving blow after blow didn’t make flinch. Until she’s bleeding everywhere, she didn’t even notice it herself. Her teammates screamed in worry over her, but she cared little for herself.

 

_Is she even human?_ Nidhogg thought to himself.

 

At one point, Nefaria is completely surrounded by fiend and separated from her teammates.

 

“Tch…,” the queen simply clicked her tongue. As she suffers from blood loss, her wobbly hands lift up her bow and arrows, readying to shoot anyone who come near her. But Nidhogg knows at this point, it’s impossible to engage further in combat. She needs his help.

 

It’s not like he cares… but…

 

“Foolish human,” Nidhogg finally speaks to Nefaria through the glass. “For how much longer you’re going to hold off that wound? Let me take over you for a bit,”

 

“Nidhogg…?!” Nefaria looks up to see the source of the voice, but she immediately remembers he speaks through her soul by the moment they form a pact.

 

“You have no time to waste,” Nidhogg squinted. “Quickly, if you want to live,”

 

“I’m already dead,” Nefaria replied with a sad voice. “But I don’t want to worry my friends even further. Come to me, dragon! Lend me your power!”

 

_Huh?_ Nidhogg flinched. But he got no time to think about it, he has been called for shapeshifting.

 

And so they did.

 

* * *

 

After the mission, Nefaria collapsed and immediately treated by a healer. It was messy situation.

 

Nidhogg returned to his roost and boredom. But his mind is full. He’s thinking about how much Nefaria wasn’t in pain even when she was receiving so many blows onto her body and her word before she was transforming into him.

 

_I’m already dead_

 

_What does she mean by that?_ Nidhogg thought. But what’s most puzzling about the event was how Nidhogg was actually trying to save her.

 

Empathy. It’s a feeling new to him. But why does he feel that way? Why he can’t stand seeing her being hurt this way by the fiends? Was it a mere pity? Or is it something else that his heart has been missing for centuries?

 

Nefaria was the only adventurer beside the prince would accept him for who he is, she always brought him treats and books as gifts. He even lets her lean on his body, for a reason unknown even to himself. Does the dragon of death longs for an interaction?

 

He remembered his last one being a human who was sent to die in Rotten Spring. For an odd reason, that human wasn’t scared of Nidhogg. If anything, he was casually asking questions to the dragon… and he feared no pain that is ravaging his body. Same as Nefaria.

 

The woman felt nothing when wounds are all over her body, the only thing that’s stopping her from further reckless actions are the concerns of her allies and Nidhogg’s calling.

  


“Nidhogg,” the dragon’s thoughts was interrupted when a familiar voice called his name.

 

“Ah, curious human,” Nidhogg answered the call.

 

“I brought you another compelling book and your favorite treats,” Nefaria offers him a huge chunk of meat and a book. “And…. if you’d like, I want to sit by your side again,”

 

“Do as you please,” Nidhogg replied. He notices Nefaria’s body and limbs are wrapped by bandages. “You seem pretty beaten up, human,”

 

“I’m alright now, thank you for the concern,” Nefaria smiles as she placed the gifts in front of him.

 

“I’m not,” The dragon answers bluntly. “It’ll be a trouble if you die,”

 

“I've died once, Nidhogg,” Nefaria sat down beside the dragon and rest her head on the bottom of Nidhogg’s neck. “You can feel my body temperature, right?”

 

“Cold,” Nidhogg mumbles. “I always thought it’s because of the weather,”

 

“The weather is fine,” Nefaria closes her eyes and feels the breeze flowing through her hair and skin. “My body is like this all the time, no matter the condition,”

 

“You are indeed the odd one,” Nidhogg told the queen. “Whenever our souls become one via shapeshifting, I always felt hollow… as if yours is the oblivion itself,”

 

“It’s because I’m already dead, Nidhogg,”

 

“I don’t get it,”

 

“I once lived in a ruined sand kingdom. I died once, but I was revived, I don’t know if it’s a curse or a punishment for me… but here I am, moving and talking like normal human being… but I’m also not,”

 

“...I see,” Nidhogg lowered his head.

 

“You may wonder, ‘what does death feels like’ or ‘what comes after it’, right?”

 

Surprised that she predicted his curiosity, Nidhogg asked. “What do you know of me, human?”

 

“We’ve been pact bound for a while, of course I know you a little,” Nefaria lets out a dry chuckle. “And I’ve heard of your tales when I was alive too. You brings misfortune and death everywhere, but now that we’ve been living in the same halidom for a while, I know it’s not really the case,”

 

“Hmp,” Nidhogg turns his head away. “How naive,”

 

“Not as you think,” Nefaria gave him a smile. “I know how it feels like to have lack of interaction with the world, after my death, I spoke to barely anybody until I met the prince, and everyone at the halidom. They make me feel… warm and alive. Don’t you think?”

 

“No,” Nidhogg answers bluntly. “But you truly are a curious one, wanting to be close to the dragon of death and misfortune such as myself,”

 

“I told you, I’m already dead, whatever you brought upon me will not affect me,” Nefaria closes her eyes. “We make quite a pair, don’t we?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. Kudos and comments would be much appreciated! Pardon me for any grammar or spelling error


End file.
